Yearly Archives: 2004

Alt-weeklies have largely let the Internet revolution pass them by, losing ground to classified sites such as Craigslist.org and Match.com, and content sites such as Alternet.org and Salon.com, Mark Glaser writes in USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review. But now alt-weeklies are launching a number of online initiatives, including New Times chain's Back Page, Artvoice's multimedia site, Jackson Free Press's Weblogs, VillageVoice.com's Soapbox section and SelectAlternatives' personals.

While partisan political ads continue to dominate attention, a rapidly growing number of nonpartisan campaigns from recently created groups are trying the tactics of Madison Avenue pros to register new, and especially young, voters.

The U.S. ad recovery may be boosting results for the media industry overall, but it continues to reflect erratic results for individual media. That was evident Tuesday, when the Radio Advertising Bureau released its much-anticipated figures for May advertising sales, which showed erosion, not a strengthening of both local and national advertising demand. The disclosure is the latest in a series of mixed advertising signals within the media industry. Earlier this week, the Magazine Publishers of America released data indicating that consumer magazines finally appear to be getting traction in terms of demand for advertising pages, while recent data from the American Business Media shows demand for business publications remains weak. While the TV marketplace is benefiting from a bonanza of political ad spending, campaign ad budgets don't appear to have boon - yet - for other local media, especially radio or newspapers. Demand for online media continues to surge.

Two of the biggest consumer packaged goods marketers urged agencies and marketers to deploy consumer-centric integrated marketing approaches, experiment with new media, and develop holistic marketing platforms that will enable them to execute a single idea across all media. Tim Kopp, section manager, Beauty Care Division, Procter & Gamble, told Ad:Tech-Chicago attendees that it doesn't take a big budget to test and experiment with emerging media including the Web, digital video recorders, and wireless. "You need to be constantly in touch with your consumer beyond the occasional focus group ... You have to look for new ways to connect with consumers," Kopp said Tuesday during the Ad:Tech panel "Big Brands...Big Thinking."

Censure for circulation fraud wasn't the only thing on the minds of Audit Bureau of Circulations members during their recent board meeting in Vancouver. ABC is expected to announce later this week a price hike of about 4% for auditing hours. John Payne, senior vice president of communications, said the increase had nothing to do with the current circ fraud revelations concerning the Chicago Sun-Times, Newsday of Melville, N.Y., and Hoy. ABC has not instituted a price increase in two years.

And, to decrease the chances of ABC getting duped again, the board changed some rules pertaining to single-copy sales. One standout: the board voted to cut the amount of days allowed under the "omitted day" rule.

Live music has always been an intangible commodity, usually vanishing into the air or bootlegged occasionally by ardent fans (sometimes with a knowing wink by the artist) or packaged as a "live album" and sold at retail. But refinements in CD-burning technology (even Starbucks Corp. is getting into the act, having just inked a deal with Hewlett-Packard Co. to supply some of its stores with CD-burning kiosks) and the rise of legal music-downloading services offer a new scenario.